The new School of Education in a new South Africa carries the responsibility and obligation to respond to the inequalities and injustices inherited in the local context of the new university, the province and in the country; and simultaneously it must address the global, the continent of Africa, and the margin or periphery as part of the developing world. It has to do so in all areas of its core functions of research, teaching, learning and community engagement.

It must operate within and manage the deepening tensions produced by the rapid advance of Science and Technology, which is fundamentally changing the nature and structures of communities as new informational and knowledge economies and societies emerge and the gap between the poor and the wealthy, and the north and the south widens.

The School of Education is located on two sites namely, Edgewood (Pinetown) and Pietermaritzburg. The School offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees and diplomas as well as postgraduate certificates, Honours, Masters and Doctoral studies programmes.

The vision is of an education that is accessible and relevant to the full range of learners, appropriate to both national and global contexts, that is of high quality and that contributes to lifelong learning in a South Africa characterised by social justice and sustainable economic development. The School sees itself as being a School located within an African university which is socially inclusive, contextually relevant and has as its primary function the generation of knowledge needed in the society that it serves.

The School of Education has strong national reputations for teacher education programmes, adult education, workplace learning and higher education. A wide variety of programmes are offered at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Prospective students are urged to discuss their needs with the relevant staff at two centres.

The School of Education consists of the following Disciplines/ Thematic Groups:

L. Cele's Sketches ( BEd(U) 2012)